NAB Cup Preview - Adelaide v St Kilda

The final of the pre season cup will be played in Adelaide this weekend. It will see the Adelaide Crows taking on the St Kilda Saints. This should be an entertaining affair with both clubs certainly taking the game seriously. It pits a young Crows team against an improving St Kilda that should be clearly the second best team this year. Partybets.com has got Adelaide as favorites at $1.62 and the Saints are at $2.25. I think this market is pretty close to the mark but when in doubt look for the value so I will be putting my hard earned on the Saints.

Even though they are away from home they have a star studded line up that should put pressure on the Crows across the park. The Crows will be trying and they might view this as their only chance of any real success this year as the regular season looms as a long one for them.

The pre season cup really is a joke. I am not a fan of any professional sportsmen playing in games that don't matter. I also think that you devalue any game if you play teams that represent the club or country that are not at full strength. Play practice games or interclub games but competitions like this are just a waste of time when some teams take it seriously and others couldn't give a stuff.

Players get injured and other players come out in the media and express that it's a Mickey Mouse competition. If the players and the clubs aren't taking it seriously then why should the fans. The AFL at time certainly has contempt for its fans.

If they want to have exhibition games in other areas then that is fine but let them be just that, exhibition games. Use these games or the VFL and other lesser competitions to fiddle around with rules and structural changes but for God sakes leave the real game alone. The launch of the season should be a time of celebration and excitement but now all the fans are just thankful that the real competition in under way.

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